The 2016 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) was held at the OECD headquarters in Paris on Wednesday and Thursday 1-2 June 2016, back to back with the OECD Forum, which started on 31 May (www.oecd.org/forum).

Since 1982 the OECD Programme on Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) has advised governments and local authorities on how to respond to economic challenges in a fast-changing world. One key initiative in this regard came in 2003 when it set up the Trento Centre for Local Development, with the Italian government and the Autonomous Province of Trento in Italy, with a mission to help build capacity and inform policy actions. So far the Trento Centre has issued more than 127 reviews, studies, guides and manuals; over 21,000 local development policy makers and practitioners have also benefited from Trento Centre capacity development seminars and activities.

At a joint high-level conference in Paris in January, the heads of the OECD and UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) called on governments to scale up their efforts to help refugees integrate and contribute to the societies and economies of Europe.

Seven years after creating the Wikigender portal in English, the OECD Development Centre launched the French version on 16 December 2015. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, International Francophone Organisation and the French Development Agency were among those associated with the launch.

On behalf of the OECD, Secretary-General Angel Gurría tonight condemned in the strongest terms the barbaric terrorist attacks perpetrated in Paris on the evening of 13 November. He expressed his most heartfelt condolences and solidarity with France and the French people, the City of Paris and its citizens following these terrible attacks.

World leaders are facing a fundamental dilemma: take strong action to address the risks associated with climate change, OR see the ability to limit this threat slip from their grasp. #COP21 in Le Bourget Paris, late 2015 is our chance for positive action...

French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron will be at the OECD this afternoon at 2pm (French time) 18 September for a webcast discussion on economic reforms, inequality and the outlook, with OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. You can watch the event here http://video.oecd.org

"China knows how to grow at a blistering pace," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said in launching the latest Economic Survey of China on 20 March. "The challenge now is to ensure that future growth occurs on a more durable and inclusive footing."

Saint Patrick’s Day is the national holiday of Ireland, an OECD member country. However, the day has become quite a global event and on 17 March the Château de la Muette, the home of the OECD in Paris, turned green, making the OECD the first international organisation to do so for Saint Patrick’s Day.

“It is unacceptable to allow corruption to undermine the functioning of public authority.” So said Christiane Taubira, French minister for justice, in launching the first OECD Foreign Bribery Report at the organisation’s headquarters in Paris on 2 December. “To fight against international bribery, it is important that we have international standards. The OECD work on producing this comparable data is essential”, she said.

“What an amazing week. … I’m doing my best to come back down to earth and get back to work.” And so it was, in less than 140 characters that Frenchman Jean Tirole (@JeanTirole) tweeted his excitement after learning that he had won the 2014 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

The great Gabriel García Márquez–our dear, recently departed Gabo, who is now surely in Macondo having a coffee with Colonel Aureliano Buendía–once wrote: “La sabiduría nos llega cuando ya no sirve para nada” (Wisdom arrives to us when it’s no longer useful). This OECD Forum is an attempt to challenge that warning. After six years of crisis, the world needs our wisdom, our inspiration, our new ideas, now. There are billions of people waiting for that new idea, and that new idea can be born here at the OECD.

1. On the occasion of the 2014 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting, we1 have assembled under the chairmanship of Japan, on the 50th anniversary of its accession to the OECD, and the vice-chairmanship of Slovenia and the United Kingdom.

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Africa's cities at the forefront of progress: Africa is urbanising at a historically rapid pace coupled with an unprecedented demographic
boom. By 2050, about 56% of Africans are expected to live in cities. This poses major policy challenges, but make no mistake: Africa’s cities and towns are engines of progress that, if harnessed correctly, can fuel the entire continent’s sustainable development.

“Nizip” refugee camp visit
July 2016: OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría visits the “Nizip” refugee camp, situated between Gaziantep and the Turkish-Syrian border, accompanied by Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek. The camp accommodates a small number of the 2.75 million Syrians currently registered in Turkey, mostly outside the camps. In his tour of the camp, Mr Gurría visits a school, speaks with refugees and gives a short interview.

OECD Observer i-Sheet Series:
OECD Observer i-Sheets are smart contents pages on major issues and events. Use them to find current or recent articles, video, books and working papers. To browse on paper and read on line, or simply download.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands gives a speech next to Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto (not pictured) during the International Forum of Financial Inclusion at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico June 21, 2016.

How sustainable is the ocean as a source of economic development?The Ocean Economy in 2030 examines the risks and uncertainties surrounding the future development of ocean industries, the innovations required in science and technology to support their progress, their potential contribution to green growth and some of the implications for ocean management.

OECD Environment Director Simon Upton presented a talk at Imperial College London on 21 April 2016. With the world awash in surplus oil and prices languishing around US$40 per barrel, how can governments step up efforts to transform the world’s energy systems in line with the Paris Agreement?

The OECD Gender Initiative examines existing barriers to gender equality in education, employment, and entrepreneurship. The gender portal monitors the progress made by governments to promote gender equality in both OECD and non-OECD countries and provides good practices based on analytical tools and reliable data.

If we want to reach zero net emissions by the end of the century, we must align our policies for a low-carbon economy, put a price on carbon everywhere, spend less subsidising fossil fuels and invest more in clean energy. OECD at #COP21 – OECD statement for #COP21

They are green and local --It’s a new generation of entrepreneurs in Kenya with big dreams of sustainable energy and the drive to see their innovative technologies throughout Africa. blogs.worldbank.org

Pole to Paris Project

In order to face global warming, Asia needs at least $40 billion per year, derived from both the public and private sector. Read how to bridge the climate financing gap on the Asian Bank of Development's website.

Climate: What's changed, what hasn't, what we can do about it.
Lecture by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, hosted by the London School of Economics and Aviva Investors in association with ClimateWise, London, UK, 3 July 2015.

Is inequality bad for growth? That redistribution boosts economies is not established by the evidence says FT economics editor Chris Giles. Read more on www.ft.com.

Interested in a career in Paris at the OECD? The OECD is a major international organisation, with a mission to build better policies for better lives. With our hub based in one of the world's global cities and offices across continents, find out more at www.oecd.org/careers .